Nintendo Says It's Focused On "Initiatives" To Keep Consumers Playing

"... to keep consumers paying."

I would launch the Gamecube/N64/Dreamcast/Saturn remaster initiative, that'll stoke interest.

I bought and finished the add on content for Zelda but it was mainly rehashed stuff from the main game and I won't be buying the Luigi's Mansion dlc because its multiplayer focused.

The reality is that I'll replay a game many times over because I enjoy the game and not because some extra content has been added to it

I don’t hate dlc and done right can be fantastic.

Nintendo aren’t quite at the doing it right stage they have got it right in certain games but the cost of the two Smash dlc packs could only be defended by the most ardent of fanboys...

We all want more content but it should be in line with the cost of full games

Not in astral chain

@Silly_G They're a company that needs to make profit to survive. And the only profit Nintendo makes is from selling games and expansions to millions of people.

Just release a DLC pack for Mario Kart to make it Mario Kart Ultimate with all tracks. An option for the character specific weapons from double dash. That would keep me going for awhile.

Have always said that the 2 IPs Nintendo have that would benefit from DLC so much is Mario Kart and Animal Crossing.

@Beermonkey If Nintendo would make a MarioKart Ultimate it should be a new game.

@sanderev I'm happy either way. I just want more Mario Kart goodness!

The DLC in BotW, Xenoblade and Fire Emblem has been DLC done right! Pokemon looks to be the same! This is the kind of DLC I love, major content releases games.

If they start having 15 map packs and micro transactions for weapons and gear, then we have problems!

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna the Golden Country
Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion
Mario + Rabbids DK Adventure
Smash Ultimate Fighter's Pass
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 Hero packs
Fire Emblem: Three Houses Cindered Shadows/Ashen Wolves

Say what you want, but Nintendo has an official lock on how to do DLC properly with content that adds to the experience you already have while not being absolutely mandated to enjoy the base game. Nobody else does it right like this and I'm proud to own all of these games with great DLC.

Not to mention games like Splatoon 2, Mario Tennis Aces, Kirby Star Allies, Marvel Alliance 3, Tetris 99, and Super Mario Maker 2 have gotten amazing amounts of completely free updates and post-launch content at no additional cost. They're not perfect, no, but when it comes to adding onto great experiences, Nintendo delivers in (nearly) all instances whether paid or free and I'm happy to own this system with their great content on it.

How have they not done anything for mario party on the switch. The thing has sold over 9 million copies but no new stuff. I’m surprised

Personally I think Nintendo has went overboard with DLC this generation, especially with Smash Bros. They could have spent the time making new games instead.

It's already over a year since Smash released, Sakurai is still working on DLC. He could've made a new Kid Icarus game for Switch or ported KI: Uprising.

@NoTinderLife They have a plethora of new games in the works, and while we don't know exactly what they might be, they have already stated that the release schedule for this year isn't even half of what they've got. Remember they have separate teams/companies for most of their big franchises, there is always something new being worked on.

If they just wanted to "keep players playing" they could release these expansions for free, prompting more sales of the base software to new users as well.

As it stands, a game like Smash Bros. Ultimate becomes a worse and worse deal, as you have to put up quite a lot of money to buy in and feel up-to-date.

@Mr_Pepperami

Exactly. Where is the Mario Party DLC. We need more boards and characters.

@Pod : The DLC fighters and Mii costumes collectively cost more than the base game. That's a lot of money for a tiny, tiny fraction of the content compared to the base game, and worse, you can't share that content with multiple consoles in the same household, for example. The preservationist in me just wants a complete product or at least some means to be able to back it up for prosperity. Frankly, I abhor the practice.

Counting down the days till Fire Emblem three houses DLC. 2 weeks today 😃. Have also purchased BOTW, Xenoblade 2 and Mario and Rabbids DLC.

Also highly anticipating the Pokemon DLC.

From a marketing standpoint it is a great way to keep the focus on Nintendo as social media talks about the games as each staggered pack releases. Ergo driving sales.

We are also focused on initiatives that keep consumers playing... except for where Super Mario Party is concerned.

"We are developing >many< new titles" this is what really matters

@Silly_G As long as it's done right then I don't think it's a problem. Remember, we've been paying constant 60 bucks for AAA games for more than 2 decades now (excluding limited editions) in this ever changing economy and industry. They need to get their profits somewhere.

@xpownz
Particularly when they're stated to all be in development for the same system!

"Many new titles for GameCube and Game Boy Advance" usually translated to just "New title for GameCube" :-/

It's been a long time since Nintendo could comfortably focus all of their energy on one system, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they've got in the pipeline.

@Silly_G I might get a lot of flak for this but I actually think the pricing for the Smash Ultimate DLC is reasonable. Smash 4's DLC being overpriced I get as quite a few characters were from previous games, but the characters in Smash Ultimate DLC are all brand-new. Not to mention, 4 out of the 5 characters so far are third-party which means they have to negotiate a deal with the third-party to include the character. You are also getting a stage with each one, a classic mode play-through, a spirit board, and music for each of these characters/stages which may or may not have new arrangements. Your mileage may vary on the music (Square Enix sucks) but you are getting a lot of content.

Yes it is expensive (around £50 if I remember correctly for both passes), but when you consider the amount of effort put in, I personally think it is a good price. Not to mention, the case could be argued that Ultimate already offers much more that what it was initially priced at (even at £60, game is bargain in terms of content for me).

I would like a definitive edition with all the content on the cart though. I do prefer my physical games being feature complete as well.

@Pod Doesn't work like that, giving away the big content for free generally means microtransactions get added. Look at the non-Nintendo front for a sign of what's to come.

First came free updates for stuff like bug fixes and small additions, then came DLC to expand games more and afterwards came season passes to essentially preorder multiple DLC releases. Switch is currently in like the equivalent to Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2010/2011 with regards to post-launch support of games.

After season passes, a new approach was taken. To prevent fracturing the userbase, stuff like multiplayer maps were added for free but at the cost of adding microtransactions and people buying the microtransactions would essentially pay for the development of the free content. Currently the form microtransactions generally take nowadays is battle passes because loot boxes are banned in some countries.

While Splatoon and Splatoon 2 didn't get microtransactions and the free content updates were literally just free updates, I have doubts that would be the case for Splatoon 3 if it was to exist.

I'm personally not a big fan of DLC. Especially when it arrives 6 months later, and I already moved on to another game. I wouldn't mind so much if they consistently released GOTY or Definitive versions with their DLCs, then I'd just wait and buy the complete edition instead. But Nintendo doesn't really do that.

@Grumblevolcano
That's all true if Nintendo feel they have to follow in the footsteps of what others are doing. And they do that a little more often than I'd like, considering their mantra of doing things differently.

Personally, I don't see why they can't keep adding the content for free, both to previously sold copies as DLC, and directly to the cartridges on new print runs.

They're one of only a few publishers who manage to keep their titles at full retail price for five years or longer -and- sell a good amount of copies at that price. When the price doesn't shrink, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that the game would instead grow.

@Silly_G
Likewise. I have avoided buying Smash 4 and Ultimate altogether, as these practices make me feel cheated, even when I don't buy the DLC.

@Silly_G this just in: a business wants money. Stay tuned for more scoops.

Personally, I have nothing against DLC, although I usually invest in "season passes" only once I know the full contents (and in practice, it's usually a sale purchase most of the time, like with BotW, 911 and Starlink). Dramatic consumers can keep their "cheated" feeling - I base my spending decisions on the factual offers provided by the market at a time, regardless of whether this or that separately sold datapiece is "already in the code" or not. I don't buy ownership of code, I buy the right to access and consume interactive Fiction.

@nhSnork
I can respect this opinion.
Unfortunately, when a slew of expansions are announced even before the release of a game, and I have the option of paying full price, or paying full price and then 40% extra for future content I don't know about yet, I feel forced to assume they could have waited two months with releasing the game, and I would have received that content as part of the package.
Or, they could have gotten to work on the next game that I will be paying full price for as well, regardless of how much I have paid for DLC in between the two.

When faced with this conundrum, I have most often decided to play something else.

Not surprising, but always sad to hear anyway. I do long for the days when a game was a complete, final package rather than an ever-expanding bloated blob of vaguely connected bits of "content". Plus, it's hard enough to find the time to keep up with gaming as it is, it doesn't help if all the games you do get to play never bloody end...

It's been a while since I played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Nintendo. Jus' sayin', some more tracks for that game would bring me back in, nudge nudge wink wink, know what I mean?

DLC seems like the obvious center of interest, but I hope Nintendo works to keep pushing the online events. It worked in varying degree for Splatoon, ARMS, and Mario Tennis, and it's a simple way of keeping people engaged, which is vital for games focused on online multiplayer.

For games that could use DLC, I'm pretty sure Super Mario Party is just going to be replaced by a sequel because of how long it's been since release. Mario Kart 8 DX on the other hand is perfect for DLC, and has tons of potential for new tracks and characters. Half of all Switch owners own it, so it'd be easy money that people would appreciate.

Loving their DLC approach so I am happy that Nintendo will continue to do more.

I’m cool with DLC. I bought the BotW DLC, Splatoon 2 and Pokemon DLC. Haven’t picked up FE yet but when I do, I’m sure I’ll get the DLC there as well. Same for LM3.

I love the opportunity to go back into these worlds and have new experiences after I’ve finished the game.

@Mr_Pepperami Mario Party & Mario Kart seem like the most sire things for DLC yet here we are with no extra content for either. So strange.

There are enough games being released for me to buy a game of a different genre than what I’m playing at any given time. Paying for add-on content for a game I own works for me when the game release and content release are significantly farther apart, and I’m itching to play that genre Later on. For example, Splatoon 2 was good, and I’ve had it for almost a year. I may get Octo Expansion soon once on sale again as I’ve stopped playing for several months am ready for Playing that again. I’m also partial to story and salmon run on there though.

It's not a bad thing that they want to add in some new elements to bring players back to those games. You would actually think they might want to focus on creating new titles and having players ready to move on into them, rather than luring them back to something they already own. It's more of a goodwill gesture for them to stuff a little more value into games after they already made the sale. Particularly when they add it in free, like Mario Maker and much of the Splatoon stuff. Can you imagine if a dealership you bought a car from last year offered to put in a few more features for next to nothing?

I hope they have a couple more additions to drop into Mario Maker before they're done. It's a little disappointing the game didn't make top 10 chart status, so anything that keeps interest going and keeps it in the race is helpful. Plus it's natural case for additions, since there are still a ton of things it's missing from the games it emulates. How hard would it be to incorporate Fuzzies, after all?

@Pod To be fair, Smash is a fighting game, and fighting games work like that, for whatever reason. Look at Tekken, SF, DBZ etc. it's always $7 per character, etc, etc, in fighting games. Not a fan of the model, but it's the norm for the genre and has been for a long time. Heck, it's the genre that really epitomized quarter pumping back in the arcade days, too....

I, too am usually not a fan of DLC, but it depends what. DLC, like the Pokemon DLC, that takes the form of what used to be considered "expansion packs" that were sold separately in a box like a "half-sequel" at less-than-full game prices (for PC games, anyway, that wasn't possible with console games so you'd get reprints with more content instead), I'm fine with. It's what it is - it's a new game, but only a partial sized game, built using all the assets and tools of another game, so you need the full game to play the new content, but it's enough new content to be somewhat stand-alone, and it's sold a year or two after the main game released for less than the price of a full game.

I'm ok with that kind of DLC - it's just a modernization of the expansion pack idea. New story, environments, continue the journey, but it didn't take the full time and cost of a development cycle, doesn't include as much content as a full priced game, and is sold cheaper than a full game.

It's the other kind of DLC like in fighters "5 new fighters for only $30" I hate, or when companies obviously strip content to sell it later as an expansion/dlc (I think back to Diablo II on PC - it was known they actively stripped out act 5 that was to be part of the main game just to sell it separately the next year - yes, that stuff predates "DLC" - it existed for retail boxed discs as well. It was just less obnoxious when it wasn't tied directly do your credit card.

@Grumblevolcano "While Splatoon and Splatoon 2 didn't get microtransactions and the free content updates were literally just free updates, I have doubts that would be the case for Splatoon 3 if it was to exist."

Dont' forget Splatoon 2 got a $20 DLC expansion. And probably a lot of people, a lot of people, paid the $20 for NO just for Spaltoon 2, so Nintendo got paid that way as well. Spaltoon on Wii U had no pay-to-play-online requirement. Nintendo also locked missions behind 3 $15 each amiibo in Spaltoon 1. Years later you still can NOT do those missions in Spaltoon w/o the amiibo.

So yeah, maybe "technically" neither of the Spaltoon games had what we would call "microtransactions" but Ninteod got paid more than the base game price for each - amiibo for 1, NO and expansion for 2.

@Octane "But Nintendo doesn't really do that."

Yeah, they put out $60 "starter editions" instead, which don't include the DLC. I'm still waiting for them to get on the ball with this, X2, BotW, Splatoon 2 come to mind. B/c what everyone here seems to neglect is that when games like DBZ Xenoverse and DBZFz release $20 expansion passes, their $60 base game usually drop to $20 by then, so you can pick up the entire game for $60 even w/ 2 season passes. SSBU will be $60 for ever, even w/ $25 and $30 season passes out there. There will NEVER be a $60 SSBU Complete. The Witcher 3 Complete has been on sale for $15 countless times. Same for HZD Complete. All you have to do is wait a year.

@Silly_G I'll only came to say that.

Well what I was actually going to say was - Replace all the words "playing" with "paying" and the article is more realistic.

@NEStalgia Since you ninja'd me by like literally 2 seconds I'll repeat myself for ya.

"Smash is a fighting game, and fighting games work like that,"

Fighting games work like - release the game for $60, 3 months later have a $20 expansion pass character release and the base game goes on sale for $40. 6 months later by the time the 2nd expansion pass is announced the base game can be had on sale for $20. SSBU is $60 and will always be $60, even after the $25 and $30 expansion passes are out there. And Nintendo is selling amiibo for $15.99 each for each character, and those amiibo don't even unlock the character in the game. $5 for Ken, $16 for his amiibo. What other fighting game is selling $16 toys for every fighter? I'm pretty sure Nintendo would still make money if the $16 toy unlocked the fighter in game instead of the $5.

OK, that was less repeating myself, more like combining 2 comments into 1.

@rjejr I saw a copy of HZD complete edition for 10 bucks, I was seriously considering getting it just to have it all on disc. I think I'll bite if I come across it again.

@Heavyarms55
I have to disagree with you on Pokemon. It was incredibly light on content compared to the last two entries (xy sun/moon). They are adding Pokemon that we wanted originally as dlc for heavens sake saying they "had" too cut the national Dex originally!

DLC is a waste of money. Used to if you wanted to stretch out the life of a game you'd make it packed with unlockable content and modes. These encouraged us to play the product we purchased and the prospect of extra stuff kept is playing and improving. Nowadays though it seems you can just buy your way to a victory, the challenge is just gone!

Regular updates to the retro console library that comes with online would be nice.
Adding in achievements would be also keep me playing.

@Octane I don't think I've even seen the Wii U version of BotW for less than $60. Even if it was $40 it would still be $60 w/ the DLC.

Oh, and the ONLY WAY to have a pet sidekick wolf Link - who not only attacks creatures and fetches you things but howls like an alarm when baddies are nearby - is w/ the $15 wolf Link amiibo. So really, for the full game experience you need that as well. I bought the amiibo for that game, it worked really well, adds somebody to talk too. They could have thrown the Wii U owners a bone and given it to them for free or w/ the DLC. (pun on purpose)

No other company does that, not even EA.

@rjejr True, but OTOH most of the other fighting games release with like 6 characters and 8 maps and are an obvious shell that serves no purpose but to unlock the ability to buy the rest of the game.

Smash comes with a ridiculous quantity of characters and maps and a complete single player storyboard mode half the other games add in later as a half baked DLC. It's a very very big game for $60. Most fighters are empty shells for $60 (eventually $20.) It's like saying "buy the razor blade handle for only $3! Quad-Blades must be purchased separately - blade frame and each blade of Quade-Blade must be purchased separately. " Each blade is $9. Buy pre-assembled Quad-Blade and save! 4 blades and blade frame only $39.99, an $11 value!

@NEStalgia Yeah, that's a good point too.

I guess that makes the problem, when you buy a $60 game w/ 8 characters the $25 expansion pass w/ 6 characters looks well worth it, each character is about $5 each. But when you buy a $60 game w/ 60 characters, $1 each, those $5 each DLC characters look mighty expensive.

Some other fighting games have story mode though. The DBXV games are really ALL story mode. I bought that DC game Injustice just for the story mode when it hit $5. SSB4 didn't have one, which turned me off the series after SSBB, but it did have 60 $12 amiibo.

So I'll give you that there are 2 ways of looking at it, but Nintneod doesn't look as nice as everyone sees through fanboi glasses.

@JR150 Imo some dlc pricing could be better, but Nintendo does tend to be great about ensuring the base game is a complete experience and content full, so I agree that part is kudos to Nintendo

@MS7000

I agree with you on the pricing of smash DLC but I think the value of it is dependent on the person buying it. I know I'll be playing this game consistently until the next smash comes out so if I play for 5 or 6 years the price isn't really a big deal. Just my opinion.

@Obitokamui64
Yeah I mean...acquiring licenses for third-party music and characters isn't cheap. I'd imagine it cost a fortune to pay for the Persona songs since loads of them are vocal and they need to pay the singers rights. And that aside, character creation isn't cheap either. Even a first party character like Byleth took time and effort to create and it shows. So I'm not sure where people think Smash DLC can get any cheaper. 5 bucks per character (with the pass) is a steal in a world where games charge you twice that much for one and that's WITHOUT a whole stage and music dedicated to the character--unlike Smash Bros.

@Obitokamui64 You are correct that the value will vary depending on each person. Not everyone will be invested enough to pay that much money, not to mention there have been quite a few people I have seen say that the fighters pass was not worth it to them based on who was added so the contents itself also matters.

And truthfully, I don't play Smash that much, but it is one of the few fighting games I keep returning to. So I guess I see it is as a good investment to keep the game fresh. People will have to make their own choices about what DLC is worth to them.

But putting everything into perspective, I still think the price is good for what you are getting.

@GameOtaku We disagree quite a bit alright. Sw/Sh has been vastly more fun than all of gen 7 combined. I would probably consider Sw/Sh my 3rd favorite Pokemon generation, after Gens 4 and 5 ( 4 being my favorite and 5 and 3 being tied for second place for different reasons)

And I very much disagree that DLC is a waste of money.

It can be, depending on the kind of DLC, things like paying to unlock things early, and loot boxes and stuff like that. But actual new content is awesome and I love it.

So far, Splatoon 2's Octo-expansion and Smash Bros. Fighters pass are the only post released content worth coming back to, if you left at all (IMO). The others have been pretty garbage.

@Heavyarms55
It's not really "new"content since the data for it is already there on the game. Sword was incredibly short (even with my work I managed to finish it the following week of its release) and its plot was a mess.

If the extra content was available by oh I don't know being good at the game and completing tasks to unlock said content (i.e. Winning 50 battles using 3 different FE characters to unlock Byleth).

Why not focus on that-that means more games and updates/DLC and more series to games. Also releasing ReMastered games updated for the Switch.,